“I’ve been trying to put it together.”
“Think harder and do that… No more hiding shit from me.”
Mace’s eyes met mine. “I ain’t hiding nothing else.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
I watched him for a few seconds before nodding.
“A’ight.” He stood, but before he reached the door, I stopped him. “Mace.”
He looked back.
“You could’ve told me. I promised I wouldn’t have looked at either one of you different.”
“I know that now…”
I hated that he hadn’t known it then.
Mace opened the door and walked out, leaving me alone with Sam’s phone and more questions than I had before.
The man had spent his final weeks digging through my mother’s past and looking for the father I’d never known. Somewhere along the way, he’d uncovered enough to scare somebody into warning him, following him to Grady and putting bullets in him before he could tell me what he found.
I picked up his phone and looked at the picture of him and my aunt again. Sam had died trying to bring me the truth, and whatever it was, I was going to finish what he started.
11
MACE KIMBLE
By the time I walked out of Vice’s office, my chest felt tight enough to make breathing uncomfortable. I’d spent the last two weeks preparing myself for the possibility that he would get into Sam’s phone, but knowing it could happen and sitting across from him while he read those messages were two different things.
After almost two years of hiding what Sam and I had from everybody around us, the secret was out. A part of me felt exposed in a way I couldn’t explain, but another part was relieved. I was tired of standing beside Sam’s grave pretending I’d only lost a friend. Tired of hearing people call him my brother while I swallowed the truth because that was what he’d wanted.
Sam had been more than that to me, and keeping it buried after he died had started feeling like I was erasing the best part of my life.
Still, I wished Vice had found out another way.
I made it through the restaurant without stopping, ignoring the employees who spoke as I passed. The second I stepped outside, I pulled in a deep breath and headed toward my truck. My hands shook a little when I reached for the door, and that pissed me off more than anything. I wasn’t the kind of man wholost control of himself. I handled whatever needed to be handled and dealt with the rest later.
The problem right now was, later had finally caught up with me.
I climbed behind the wheel but didn’t start the engine. For a few minutes, I just sat here staring through the windshield while the conversation with Vice replayed in my head.
You could’ve told me.
He was right…
I could’ve…
Vice wasn’t the type to care about who I loved, and deep down, I’d always known that. Sam knew it too, even when fear convinced him otherwise. The people around us might’ve talked. Some probably would’ve looked at us differently, but Vice wouldn’t have. He would’ve asked a few disrespectful questions, laughed at how long we managed to hide it, then kept moving like nothing had changed.
Still, Sam wasn’t ready for him to know.
I’d respected that because I loved him more than I cared about being publicly claimed. At least, that was what I told myself whenever hiding started getting under my skin.
My phone rang, and for one stupid second, I reached for it expecting to see Sam’s name.